The Development of Airports

Introduction 

The history of civil aviation is rather short but extremely rich and has made positive impacts on society. Generally, the growth of the civil aviation industry, particularly airports, has been at per with other technical, industrial, and social-political occurrences and has been characterized by various legislations that have made it adapt to the continually changing world. The paper expounds on the growth of aviation and airports from a legislative point of view, which encompasses decisions that have impacted the industry economically, technically, and financially. 

The Facts 

Young & Wells (2011) divided the development of airports into three eras, with each one of them containing different acts of legislation. The eras include the formative period of aviation and airports, the airport growth and postwar period, and airport modernization, the early jet stage. During that period, many laws and regulations were enacted. For instance, the Air Commerce Act was signed into law on May 20, 1926, and the objective was to develop and stabilize commercial aviation to attract substantial revenue into the business (Young & Wells, 2011). Similarly, the Federal Airports Act of 1946 formally recognized the civil-use airports in the United States as comprehensive systems of airports. According to Young & Wells (2011), the Airways Modernization Act of 1957 was to facilitate the development and modernization of the national system of navigation (p. 65). The three laws are relevant as they help in understanding the various acts of legislation that have influenced the development and operations of airports. 

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article 

The article is flawless in terms of history. Instead of just listing the laws and the year of implementation, Young & Wells (2011) arrange them in chronological order from the earliest one to the latest. The writers go a step further by breaking them into different periods from the formative and post-war period to the modernization era. In doing so, the authors give readers a clear perspective of the different times that the various acts of legislation were made into laws. Furthermore, Young & Wells (2011) give brief histories of the circumstances that resulted in the laws. The authors include the timing of the sessions held by congress as well as the presidents who signed the bills into law. In other perspectives, the authors describe the drivers of some of the amendments and laws made. For example, the authors include the circumstances surrounding the success of Orville and Wilbur Wright in achieving flight. Young & Wells (2011) make a vivid description of the object that is considered to be the birth of aviation. In their words, the authors described it as a "flight with a fixed-wing, heavier-than-air vehicle" (p. 55). The statement shows their dedication to ensuring that their readers get a crystal-clear picture of where aviation began and the journey it has taken towards modernization. 

Comparatively, (Budd, 2016) is nowhere near as comprehensive as Young & Wells (2011). For instance, Young & Wells (2011) chronologically arranges the events as they took place without grouping the years. On the other hand, Budd (2016) groups the events. For example, in the Development of Air Transport Infrastructure in Europe from 1916 to 1996, the writer only covers one event that is barely enough for all those years. Young & Wells (2011) has inspired other writers to arrange their works in chronological order. A good example is Li & Trani (2017), who follow their footsteps but take a different turn by discussing flight rules. In their also flawless article, the writers consider the historical implications of Airport-level General Aviation, whose critical role in operations decision making and airport management they explore (Li & Trani, 2017). 

However, the article is biased in that it overemphasized on the negatives. In the development of the first flight, instead of dwelling on the aspect of their victory in successfully making the first aircraft, the writers concentrate on the aspects of the open field that they used for testing. The writers criticized the lack of traffic lights, air traffic control, terminal buildings, fuel facilities, and paved runways. Much of the criticism was unnecessary since it was 1903, and it was unrealistic to expect modern equipment. After all, Orville and Wilbur were testing on an open field. Around that time, technology was close to non-existent, and the little efforts that were made should have been greatly appreciated, which is not the case for the writers. Instead of appreciating the efforts, Young & Wells (2011) embraced a slight criticism tone by stating that the development was slow and hesitant. According to them, the development efforts should have gone to the airports instead of the aircraft. However, airports could not have been made without the plans to operate in them. Therefore, the scientists were correct in directing most of the advancement efforts towards the aircraft .it is the same reasoning used today, where there are more aircraft than airports, and terminal airspace operations have to be optimized for effectiveness (Sidiropoulos, Majumdar, & Han, 2018). 

Conclusion 

Young & Wells (2011) give an article that is rich in terms of the historical background and development of aviation. The authors arrange the laws and circumstances in a chronological order, which is beneficial for professionals to understand and appreciate the tremendous efforts made in aviation since 1903. Some of the laws include the Air Commerce Act of 1926, the Federal Airports Act of 1946, and the Airways Modernization Act of 1957. The laws, together with many others, helped the aviation industry to grow and expand into the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today. 

References 

Budd, L. (2016). The Historical Geographies of Air Transport. In  the Geographies of Air Transport  (Pp. 25-40). Routledge. 

Li, T., & Trani, A. A. (2017). A Least-Square Model to Estimate Historical Percentages of Itinerant General Aviation Operations by Aircraft Types and Flight Rules at An Airport.  Journal of Advanced Transportation ,  2017 . 

Sidiropoulos, S., Majumdar, A., & Han, K. (2018). A Framework for The Optimization of Terminal Airspace Operations in Multi-Airport Systems.  Transportation Research Part B: Methodological ,  110 , 160-187. 

Young, S., & Wells, A. (2011). Airport and Airport Systems; a Historical and Legislative Perspective. In  Airport Planning and Management 6/E  (6th ed., pp. 53-99). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.